Seal assembly machine

ABSTRACT

A machine for assembling seals of the type in which a seal body receives a wire shackle in non-removable engagement, in which the shackles have divergent legs of unequal length. The machine receives the shackles with the legs in the unflexed divergent condition, flexes them together and positions them in alignment with apertures in the seal body, and then inserts them into the body a predetermined distance so that one leg is non-removably engaged in one aperture and the other leg is removably positioned in the other aperture.

United States Patent 1191 Moberg Mar. 26, 1974 1 SEAL ASSEMBLY MACHINE [76] Inventor: Sigurd Manfred Moberg, 91 Ridge St. Apt. 101, Orange, NJ. 07050 22 Filed: Aug. 21, 1972 21 Appl. No.: 282,240

52 us. ca. 29/208 1), 29/211 1) 51 Int. Cl. 323p 19/04, B23q 7/10 [58] Field of Search 29/208 D, 208 E, 208 R,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 12/1957 Dennison et a1 29/208 D 1/1959 lne 29/211 D Primary Examiner-Thomas H. Eager Attorney, Agent, or FirmRobert E. Ross [57] ABSTRACT A machine for assembling seals of the type in which a seal body receives a wire shackle in non-removable engagement, in which the shackles have divergent legs of unequal length. The machine receives the shackles with the legs in the unflexed divergent condition, flexes them together and positions them in alignment with apertures in the seal body, and then inserts them into the body a predetermined distance so that one leg is non-removably engaged in one aperture and the other leg is removably positioned in the other aperture.

7 Claims, 11 Drawing Figures PATENTEU MAR 26 I974 SHEET 3 OF 5 Pmmnnmzs m4 3; 798.737

sum 5 0F 5 SEAL ASSEMBLY MACIHNE BACKGROUND OF .THE INVENTION In my US. Pat. No. 3,485,52l there is illustrated a seal comprising a seal body of plastic material, and a U-shaped wire shackle, each leg of which is provided with a reversely bent end for insertion into a shackle aperture in the body so that said shackle cannot be disengaged from the body without evidence of such attempt at pilferage, such as rupture of the shackle or the plastic body.

As stated in said patent, when delivered to the customer it is desirable that one leg of the shackle be nonremovably engaged in one seal body opening ahd the other leg be partially and removably positioned in another seal body aperture. The seals may therefore be shipped to the customer without excessive entanglement, yet said other leg may be easily disengaged from the body for assembly with an article to be protected, and then re-inserted into the aperture for nonremovable engagement therein.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a machine for automatically assembling seal bodies and shackles into the configuration described above, whereby the seal bodies are positioned in suitable nests on an indexing dial and presented one by one to a shackle assembly station. At that station a supply of shackles having legs of unequal length is provided, with said legs in a slightly divergent position. Means is provided for removing the shackles one by one from a supply, flexing the legs of the shackle together, and inserting the ends thereof into suitable apertures in the seal body, so that one leg is nonremovably engaged in one aperture, and the other leg is removably positioned in the other aperture, whereby the shackle legs are retained by the body in the flexed condition, but said other leg will resile outwardly away from the seal body when disengaged therefrom, thereby allowing assembly of the shackle with an article to be protected.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a seal assembly machine embodying the features of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a view in section taken on line B--B of FIG. 1 illustrating at the left end the shackle inserting station and at the right end the bodynumbering station.

FIG. 3 is a view in section taken on line A-A of FIG. 1 illustrating at the left end the seal body inserting station and at the right end the seal extracting station.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged top plan view of the shackle inserting station, with the shackle in the condition as received from the shackle holder.

FIG. 5 is a view of the mechanism of FIG. 4 in which the shackle legs have been flexed together inpreparation for insertion into the seal body.

FIG. 6 is a view of the mechanism of FIG. 4 in which the shackle has been moved forwardly into assembly with the seal body.

FIG. 7 is a view taken on line 7-7 of FIG. 4.

FIG. 8 is a view taken on line 8-8 of FIG. 7.

FIG. 9 is a view of the seal in the assembled condition.

DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENT Referring to the drawing, there is illustrated a machine for assembling the component parts of a seal 10 of the type that comprises a plastic body 12 and a preformed wire shackle 14.

The details of the structure and operation of the seal are illustrated and described in my US. Pat. Nos. 3,375,033issued Mar. 26, 1968 and 3,485,521 issued Dec. 23, I969.

The assembly of the components of the seal are car ried out by the machine in the following sequence. The wire shackle, when supplied to the machine, has been partially preformed into the shape illustrated in FIG. 4, so that it is generally U-shaped with slightly divergent legs 16 and 18, with said legs having endportions 20 and 22 reversely bent inwardly.

The leg 16 is somewhat longer than the leg 18 for a purpose disclosed in said above identified patents, and to be described hereinafter. I

The shackles 14 may be manufactured from a continuous length of wire on any suitable type of wire forming machine, and to enable them to be automatically fed into the assembly machine they are stacked onto a holder 24, which has a shape in cross-section that retains the shackles in a predetermined orientation.

The machine for assembly of the hasps with the plastic bodies comprises an indexing dial 102 having a plurality of nests 104 for receiving the plasticbodies, a feed station 106 of which plastic bodies 12 are fed into the nests 104, a shackle inserting station 108 and an ejecting station 110. In some embodiments of the invention a numbering station 112 may also be provided.

During operation-of the machine the dial 102 is indexed in a clockwise direction as seen from the top a distance equal to the distance between nests so that the nests appear at each work station successively.

The plastic bodies are led to the feed station by a feed track 1 16 extending from a suitable feed hopper generally tangentially to the dial at the feed station and arrive against a stop 118 with the apertures 28 of the bodies facing inwardly in relation to the dial.

A feed arm 120, timed to operate when the dial is at rest between cycles pushes the plastic body resting against the stop 118 into the adjacent nest on the dial, where it is retained by spring fingers 122.

Simultaneously, while the dial is at rest, a wire shackle 14 is inserted into a plastic body in the nest at the wire inserting station 108 by mechanism now to be described.

The wire inserting mechanism comprises a support block 124 movable toward and awayfrom the dial,'a pair of jaws 126 mounted on the block 124 at pivots 128, and a jaw operating mechanism comprising a slide 130 movable in a way 132 formed in the rear portion of the block. The slide 132 is connected to the outer rear corners of the jaws by linkage arms 134. A push rod 136 from an air cylinder 138 is connected to the slide to cause forward and rearward movement thereof in timed relation to the indexing of the dial.

Forward movement of the slide first causes the 126 to close, and further forward movement thereafter causes the block 124 and jaws to move forwardly.

The inner surface of the jaws are provided with a recess on the upper portion forming a shelf 140. Means is provided for mounting the holder 24 above the jaws, so that when the holder is loaded with shackles, the lowermost shackle drops onto the shelf 140. The con figuration of the inner surface l42 of the upper portion of the jaws is such that when the jaws are in the open position they provide a shelf outline which is substantially the same as that of a shackle 14 in the unflexed condition as received from the holder 24, and when moved to the closed position the jaws flex the legs of the shackle together so that the ends thereof are positioned to enter the apertures 28 of the body 12 in the adjacent nest 104 on the dial.

The forward movement of the slide is timed to occur when the dial 102 is at rest. The extent of the forward movement is so controlled that the longer leg 16 is inserted into the body far enough that the reversely bent end portion 20 engages an internal surface of the body and prevents retraction, whereas the shorter leg 18 enters the body aperture only to approximately half the length of the reverse bent end portion. The leg 18 is therefore retained by the body in the flexed condition during shipment and storage, thereby preventing entanglement. However the leg may be easily removed from the body just prior to use by pulling it outwardly from the body, whereupon it flexes back to its original position in relation to the other leg 16, so that it can be assembled with the deviceon which it is to be used as seal.

After insertion of the shackle into the body the slide 130 retracts, which flrst causes the jaws 126 to open, and then causes the block 124 and jaws to retract to the original position, whereupon the next shackle drops from the holder 24 onto the shelf 140 of the jaws.

At the eject station 110, the assembled seal is removed from the nest by any convenient means, such as by a block 144 reciprocated by an air cylinder 146, said block carrying a reversely inclined spring catch 148 which rides over the shackle when the block moves forwardly, and pulls the seal out of the nest when the block moves rearwardly.

The mechanisms of the body inserting station, shackle inserting station and eject station are timed to operate substantially simultaneously, while the dial is at rest between indexing motions.

In some embodiments of the invention the station 112 may be provided for applying a serial number to the surface of the plastic body by means of a numbering die 150.

Although in the illustrated embodiment of the invention the nests 104 are disposed on a dial type of indexing device it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that other types of indexing transfer devices may be I claim:

1. A machine for assembling a seal, the component parts of which comprise a body having a pair of spaced apertures and a shackle having a pair of legs with end portions adapted to be received in said apertures in non-removable engagement, said machine comprising means for positioning a seal body with the apertures in a predetermined orientation, means for positioning a shackle with at least one of its legs being disposed gen- 2. A machine as set out in claim 1 in which means is provided for positioning each leg opposite one of the apertures in the body, and means is provided for inserting the end of one of said legs into nonremovable engagement in one of said apertures and the end of the other leg into removable engagement in the other aperture.

3. A machine for assembling a seal comprising a plastic body having a pair of spaced apertures and a wire shackle having a pair of generally colateral legs with ends adaptedto be received in said apertures in nonremovable engagement, said machine comprising means for positioning a seal body with the apertures in a predetermined orientation, means for positioning a shackle with said legs disposed gene-rally opposite the apertures but diverging so that said ends are positioned further apart than said apertures, means for flexing said legs together and thereafter moving the ends of said legs into the apertures so that one leg end is nonremovably engaged in one aperture and the other leg end is removably received in the other aperture to maintain the legs in the flexed condition.

4. A machine for assembling a seal, the component parts of which comprise a plastic body and a wire shackle with a pair of legs having ends adapted to be inserted into non-removable engagement in spaced apertures in the body, said machine comprising a plurality of nest means for receiving the plastic bodies, means indexing said nest means between work stations, a first work station having means for inserting a plastic body into a nest, a second work station having means for storing said shackles with the arms diverging, means for removing a shackle from the storage means and inserting one leg thereof into non-removable engagement in one of the body apertures.

5. A machine as set out in claim 4 in which means is provided for flexing together the legs of the shackle re moved from the holder, andfor thereafter inserting the end of one leg into non-removable engagement in one body aperture and the other leg into the other aperture and a wire shackle having a pair of generally colateral legs normally disposed in diverging relation with end portions adapted to be received in said apertures in non-removable engagement, one leg being longer than the other, said machine comprising means for positioning a plastic body with said apertures facing a shackle inserting mechanism, said mechanism comprising a pair of jaws, means associated with said jaws for feeding a shackle into said jaws when the jaws are in the open position so that the legs of the shackle project from the jaws toward the plastic body, means for thereafter closing said jaws so that the legs of the shackle contained therein are flexed together into alignment with said body apertures, means for thereafter moving the jaws toward the plastic body a distance such that the longer leg enters the body aperture far enough to become non-removably engaged therein and the shorter leg enters the other body aperture far enough to be retained therein in the flexed condition but not far enough to become non-removably engaged therein.

machine comprising means for positioning a seal body with the apertures in a predetermined orientation, means for positioning a shackle with each leg generally opposite one of the'apertures and means is provided for moving the shackle-toward said body so that the re-- versely bent end portion of the longer leg is pushed into non-removable engagement in one aperture and only the extreme forward portion of the reversely bent end portion of the shorter leg enters the other aperture so that said shorter leg is readily'removable from said aperture. 

1. A machine for assembling a seal, the component parts of which comprise a body having a pair of spaced apertures and a shackle having a pair of legs with end portions adapted to be received in said apertures in non-removable engagement, said machine comprising means for positioning a seal body with the apertures in a predetermined orientation, means for positioning a shackle with at least one of its legs being disposed generally opposite one of the apertures, means for moving said shackle toward said body so that the end of said one leg is pushed into non-removable engagement in said one aperture.
 2. A machine as set out in claim 1 in which means is provided for positioning each leg opposite one of the apertures in the body, and means is provided for inserting the end of one of said legs into non-removable engagement in one of said apertures and the end of the other leg into removable engagement in the other aperture.
 3. A machine for assembling a seal comprising a plastic body having a pair of spaced apertures and a wire shackle having a pair of generally colateral legs with ends adapted to be received in said apertures in non-removable engagement, said machine comprising means for positioning a seal body with the apertures in a predetermined orientation, means for positioning a shackle with said legs disposed generally opposite the apertures but diverging so that said ends are positioned further apart than said apertures, means for flexing said legs together and thereafter moving the ends of said legs into the apertures so that one leg end is non-removably engaged in one aperture and the other lEg end is removably received in the other aperture to maintain the legs in the flexed condition.
 4. A machine for assembling a seal, the component parts of which comprise a plastic body and a wire shackle with a pair of legs having ends adapted to be inserted into non-removable engagement in spaced apertures in the body, said machine comprising a plurality of nest means for receiving the plastic bodies, means indexing said nest means between work stations, a first work station having means for inserting a plastic body into a nest, a second work station having means for storing said shackles with the arms diverging, means for removing a shackle from the storage means and inserting one leg thereof into non-removable engagement in one of the body apertures.
 5. A machine as set out in claim 4 in which means is provided for flexing together the legs of the shackle removed from the holder, and for thereafter inserting the end of one leg into non-removable engagement in one body aperture and the other leg into the other aperture so as to be retained therein in the flexed condition but so as to be readily removable therefrom.
 6. A machine for assembling a seal of the type comprising a plastic body having a pair of spaced apertures and a wire shackle having a pair of generally colateral legs normally disposed in diverging relation with end portions adapted to be received in said apertures in non-removable engagement, one leg being longer than the other, said machine comprising means for positioning a plastic body with said apertures facing a shackle inserting mechanism, said mechanism comprising a pair of jaws, means associated with said jaws for feeding a shackle into said jaws when the jaws are in the open position so that the legs of the shackle project from the jaws toward the plastic body, means for thereafter closing said jaws so that the legs of the shackle contained therein are flexed together into alignment with said body apertures, means for thereafter moving the jaws toward the plastic body a distance such that the longer leg enters the body aperture far enough to become non-removably engaged therein and the shorter leg enters the other body aperture far enough to be retained therein in the flexed condition but not far enough to become non-removably engaged therein.
 7. A machine for assembling a seal, the component parts of which comprise a body having spaced apertures and a generally U-shaped shackle having a pair of legs, each leg having a reversely bent end portion adapted to be received in an aperture in non-removable engagement, one leg being longer than the other, said machine comprising means for positioning a seal body with the apertures in a predetermined orientation, means for positioning a shackle with each leg generally opposite one of the apertures and means is provided for moving the shackle toward said body so that the reversely bent end portion of the longer leg is pushed into non-removable engagement in one aperture and only the extreme forward portion of the reversely bent end portion of the shorter leg enters the other aperture so that said shorter leg is readily removable from said aperture. 